Five years ago, he was in his second season as a defenseman on the minor-league Fort Wayne Komets and two years removed from a successful college stint at UMass Lowell. This Minnesota boy has hockey in his blood, and that drove him to make a call about a coaching opportunity.

“I was playing minor-pro at the time, and I really didn’t have an agenda for anything,” Pence said. “Made a phone call to see what it was all about. They flew me out here, (I) saw the school and thought, ‘Wow, this is awesome.’ “

Fast forward to 2013. Pence is now in his second season as head coach of the Resurrection Christian School hockey team in Loveland. He has been able to put his own personal stamp on the program as a first-time coach.

“A chance to start up my own program … do things the way I want to do it and try to put a lot of character in the place,” Pence said. “I kind of jumped on it and am excited that I did.”

The Cougars went to the state tournament semifinals in their first season, losing 7-2 to Ralston Valley at DU’s Magness Arena. This year’s team is a melting pot of players from 12 high schools. All of them have one thing in common: They love playing hockey.

“It’s fun having a new group of kids to play with,” said senior Garrett Wood, one of three Greeley West Spartans on the team.

The RCS Cougars are in fourth place in the Foothills League standings (11-2-1 overall and 7-1-1 in the league) after a successful weekend that included a 3-3 tie against defending state champion Regis Jesuit at the Northern Colorado Ice Center.

But the injury bug that bit hard early in the season has gone away, and the Cougars are getting healthy at just the right time.

“I’m almost positive we’ll be back in the final four,” Wood said.

Wood (10 goals, 14 assists) and Rocky Mountain’s Tanner Ulland (11 goals, 13 assists) lead the team in points. Linemate Tyler Weber of Greeley Central has 10 goals and nine assists. Having so many schools helps with the support.

“There is nobody up here cheering against us for hockey,” Pence said. “So the dichotomy is that they have to cheer for their school in basketball against RCS, but when they’re playing hockey for them, they are cheering for them.”

The stands are sure to be packed at NoCo in the final few weeks of the season. Resurrection athletic director Rich Yonker has decided to let all high school students into home games for free.

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